This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Oil and natural gas have a profound effect on modern economies and societies. Indeed, devices and systems that depend on oil and natural gas are ubiquitous. For instance, oil and natural gas are used for fuel in a wide variety of vehicles, such as cars, airplanes, boats, and the like. Further, oil and natural gas are frequently used to heat homes during winter, to generate electricity, and to manufacture an astonishing array of everyday products.
In order to meet the demand for such natural resources, companies often invest significant amounts of time and money in searching for and extracting oil, natural gas, and other subterranean resources from the earth. Particularly, once a desired resource is discovered below the surface of the earth, drilling and production systems are often employed to access and extract the resource. These systems may be located onshore or offshore depending on the location of a desired resource. Further, such systems generally include a wellhead assembly through which the resource is extracted. These wellhead assemblies may include a wide variety of components, such as various casings, valves, fluid conduits, and the like, that control drilling and/or extraction operations. Additionally, such wellhead assemblies may also include components, such as an isolating mandrel (“frac mandrel”) and/or fracturing tree, to facilitate a fracturing process.
Resources such as oil and natural gas are generally extracted from fissures or other cavities formed in various subterranean rock formations or strata. A fracturing process (i.e., “frac” process) may be used to create one or more man-made fractures in a rock formation, such that such that a connection can be made with a number of these pre-existing fissures and cavities. In this manner, the fracturing process enables oil, gas, or the like to flow from multiple pre-existing fissures and cavities to the well via the man-made fractures. Such fracturing processes typically include injecting a fluid into the well to form the man-made fractures. These “frac” wells may include relatively high pressures so that when changing the components of the wellhead, such as the “Christmas” tree or installing a tubing hanger and production tubing, it may be desirable to have additional safety measures in the wellhead assembly. The frac mandrel or the production tree may include the use of “dual barriers” to provide seals during or after the fracturing process or during production flow. However, these dual barriers are only present when such equipment is installed and do not provide for testing the seal integrity of the components of the wellhead assembly.